After “a visit to Goon Squad” burned my entire grey cells, I was hesitated to start this book. But the idea about externalizing and downloading memory experience felt like a quick de javu reminded me of my favorite Black Mirror episode ( season 1: episode 3: “Entire History of You: it’s about special memory implant that records everything you’ve done in the past) and I was truly hooked up. I knew from the beginning my head would hurt and I could lose the last remains of my perfectly functioning grey cells ( that I got implemented after reading the previous book of the author)

At this book aspiring tech entrepreneur Bix Bouton finally presents his new technology under the name “Own your unconscious “ which helps the users access the memories they’re looking for and they can also use them in exchange the other people’s memories. But things get a little bit complicated during this sharing process by connecting various characters over several decades.

I have to say this was so complex, mind numbing but also inventive, creative. I advise you to read when your mind is clear enough to perceive the connections between characters. In my opinion understanding the connections between characters correctly was as hard as solving simultaneous equations with multiple unknowns. I must admit the author is genius! One of the best brain sport experiences I’ve ever had.

Overall: complicated, brilliant, dazzling! You shouldn’t dare to miss it!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

THE CANDY HOUSE is one of the most imaginative, sprawling, inventive novels I have read in forever. Jennifer Egan is a master story teller who takes the reader on a magic carpet ride. Perfection.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

A fairly faithful update of the ground-breaking Goon Squad (2010-> music scenes : 2022-> social media is the necessary metaphor). Slightly different windows into the same universe. In so many ways it felt like the same book, but it’s a book I like(d) a lot, so that’s worth 4.

Genre: Speculative Fiction
Publisher: Scribner
Pub. Date: April 5, 2022

Mini-Review

If “A Visit from the Goon Squad” was organized like a concept album, “The Candy House,” which is referred to as a sister book to “Goon Squad,” uses Electronic dance music but in a more paradoxical format than “Squad.” Here the reader has the sensation of traveling through multiple realities. It took me a while to get into “Goon Squad.” I never felt connected to the characters but Egan won me over with her gutsy narrative as she used a PowerPoint presentation to narrate one of the interconnected stories. Egan is just as gutsy and gifted with “House.” Yet, I simply had trouble with the Sci-Fi elements to truly enjoy the book. This might be on me. I may be on a speculative fiction overload. I loved the author’s historical fiction, “Manhattan Beach.” Maybe I will read a couple of historical fiction novels—my favorite genre—and then return to “The Candy House.” I feel obligated to give a Pulitzer Prize-winning author a second chance.

For me, a “ sci-fi”read. A new program, MANDALA, that allows you to visit not only your past, but also the past of anyone else who signs onto the program. If you choose not to you are an “ eluder”. Rather than a main character, there are countless characters, and there are entire chapters written in tweet and epistle form. For me, a very difficult and at times very confusing read. If I were to take one message away for the technology oriented generations to come it would be: “ be careful what you wish for”. The consequences may not be as benign and wonderful as they first appear.

3.5 out of 5. This is an objectively really good book with a very relevant and to the moment subject matter. The questions that it leaves you with haunt you for quite a few days later after putting the book down. They live rent free in your mind and make you question a lot of what we see as tech developments and how they could be misconstrued. That of the book was great. What I wasn't fully into was the great amount of characters. I actually think thee story would have been better exposed with fewer of them. At the end I felt like a needed an intro page of character interconnections, like they have in 100 years of solitude, they were all blurring to me. I actually could have done without entire chapters, like Lulus spy story. There were so many superfluous characters and some I wanted to know more of. Like Bix, why did we not revisit Bix? Was my confusion because I didn't read A Visit to the Goon Squad? maybe I should have picked that one up before but now we never know, but now after reading this I kind of don't want to be even more confused. Send me your thoughts, should I pick, up Visit to the Goon Squad?

The Candy House, by Jennifer Egan, features characters from her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Visit from the Goon Squad. Bix Bouton, one of the characters, has created a program called "Own Your Unconscious," and the other characters interact with and around this new technology. "Own Your Unconscious" doesn't feel that far away, especially in the age of social media and the constant cataloging of our lives for our digital audience. Egan explores all of this without being didactic, and the novel doesn't get bogged down with the how and why of the technology.

Egan may be a genius. I appreciate the way she weaves the character's stories together in this layered novel; in fact, she makes it look easy. At times, it felt like the cast of characters was a bit too extensive, and I had to ask myself, "Wait, how are these people connected again?" Nevertheless, the stories are tied together masterfully by the end of the novel. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scriber for providing the ARC!

Jennifer Egan can write.

I am a fan of her 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Visit From the Good Squad so I wanted to read this – I was not disappointed, actually very impressed.

Egan summons up her best Faulkner and goes full experimental literature on us as she takes the reader on a ride into the future with her “Own Your Unconscious” idea.

This may be a demonstration of how books are written from here on out.

Egan is just bragging at this point, making it look easy, a swaggering virtuosity of prose that should also win her many accolades.

Bix Bouton, comes up with an idea to externalize memories, and share our memories, and his high tech idea changes the world. But Egan asks the simple question, is this for everyone, and do we really want all of our memories, shared or otherwise.

In a world that is increasingly defined by tech, and growing less private, Egan’s timely novel poses existential questions about who we are now, how we got here and where do we want to go from here.

Very, very good and I’ll be reading more from her.

Thanks to NetGalley for a sneak peak at this exceptional novel.

I really wanted to like this book. I had recently read the "sibling novel" to this one, A Visit From The Goon Squad, and I felt the same way about both books. They both honked me from the beginning but then as the story went on, it felt disjointed. Some parts I was confused especially with so much character switching. I liked the overall theme of this book but about halfway through it, it was a struggle to read. It was ok overall but if you liked the first book in this "series" then you'll enjoy this one as well. It was just ok for me.

Imagine a future where you can upload your memories and your consciousness into an online collective and gain access to the "anonymous thoughts and memories of everyone in the world"--in other words, a future where the collective unconscious becomes tangible. People never really die. You can cure Alzheimer's by implanting memories back into peoples' brains. It all seems perfect and tempting, just like the Gingerbread and Candy-coated house in Hansel and Gretel that lures the kids straight to the witch’s lair.

This is the world of The Candy House, a fairytale for adults which explores a not-too-distant future (the 2030s) and the past through the eyes of an assortment of characters, including Bix Bouton, the founder of Own Your Own Unconscious, and Miranda Kline, the ex-wife of a famous music executive and the writer of a book who unwittingly influenced the creation of Bix Bouton's alternate reality. There is also Bix Bouton's nemesis, Chris Salazar, the leader of the resistance, whose not-for-profit, Mondrian, helps people elude their online identities and counteract some of the more noxious effects of everyone knowing everything about everyone. Woven throughout the book are the narratives of their various relatives and lovers and children.

Jennifer Egan is at her best when she's time traveling, and The Candy House is no exception, vaulting readers into the future and back, from the 2030s to the 1970s. Full of profound ideas, it’s a book you will want to finish and re read. There’s no way you can catch it all on the first read. Parts are uneven and slower paced, but I’m confident that on a second read it will all weave together brilliantly.

This book is weird and smart, sometimes confusing, sometimes beautiful. I really enjoyed spending time with these people, in this world, which is so close to ours. I appreciate Egan's ability to get across a point without feeling preachy. Funny, sad, inventive, hopeful, pessimistic -- the real trick here is that Egan has written a book that can be described by all those adjectives and more and yet still feels cohesive.

I like this better than Goon Squad.

Every one of Egan's books is wildly different from the last but they each retain her gift of creating a sense of place and a plot that is interesting and unpredictable. THE CANDY HOUSE takes us to the near future, where social media has evolved into a means of sharing memory and consciousness with strangers. Egan shows the benefits and true detriments of this kind of evolution while giving us fascinating characters and and excellent story line. This novel is difficult to describing but a true delight to read.

I wanted to love this one! I loved A Visit from the Goon Squad, and The Candy House is described as a "sibling novel" to that one. Reading it was a bit like looking through a kaleidoscope. Some real moments of beauty, but very fragmented, and every time I started getting invested in a character the whole story shifted. I kept hoping it would all come together nicely at the end, but unfortunately it just didn't. Some interesting ideas and some really engaging writing, but overall the book was just too disjointed for my taste.

"...fiction— lets us roam with absolute freedom through the human collective." So writes Jennifer Egan in The Candy House, a rollicking return to the world of Welcome to the Goon Squad. In case you were wondering what happened to Sasha and Benny and company, wonder no longer. Their stories have continued, the stories of their offspring are intertwined, we are in the past, we are in the future.

Before jumping in, I did go back and skim Goon Squad, to re-familiarize myself with the character arcs. It has been a few years. This revisit made The Candy House a much more immersive read - feeling invested in the outcomes of these fictional characters. They felt like old friends.

The Candy House expands from the music industry to technology, art, collective memory...sci-fi territory, global vistas. The style of the narrative varies wildly based on the character, feeling like multiple books in one. Egan elegantly manages to bring it all together. With gorgeous prose and emotional depth, she demonstrates why the return to this world was inevitable. People are going to eat this up.

My thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this review.

Some short story gems, but ultimately uneven and less cohesive than Goon Squad. I did appreciate the character crossovers though.

Jennifer Egan once again delivers a novel rich in character, compelling in action, and fiercely original. You don't need to have read VISIT/GOON SQUAD to relish the situations posed in this multi-charactered novel: it can stand alone. But from the opening sentence it is impossible resist the pull of a wonderfully complex storyline. Highly recommended.

I was excited to get access to this book as I'm a fan of her writing, especially A Visit from the Goon Squad. This book is very similar, building on the characters from that book to weave a narrative from the perspective of a wide variety of characters. This book can read as a series of short stories but reads best as a whole, exploring privacy in the technology era. I could not put this book down and read most of it on a long haul flight.

Egan is a great writer. And while I was in the minority bc I did not like A Visit from The Goon Squad, I enjoyed this. Maybe it's time and perspective that had changed my mind but it's hard to deny it's s great book.

Egan is a masterful writer with a unique style that I find so compelling and propulsive. The book is a sibling novel to Visit from the Goon Squad, The Candy House is a told through interwoven stories and characters that carry both mystery and comprehensive memories accessible by everyone, and any one that cares to access it. There is so much to read between the lines here of our current reality and futuristic repercussions of what offloading our memories for consumption by others. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will continue to read all this author publishes in the future. Thank you so much to Scribner and NetGalley for an opportunity to read and review this book!

How did we get here from the Goon Squad?! The children of those rocking the music world and even some their contemporaries decided to align their vision with the current world order and leave their mark in the digital world. They were recreating the collective memory that the Goon Squad created via music. But unlike music that was segmented by genres and decades, this digital collective memory had more no boundary other than person’s free will of participation.

Every character’s story was more of stream of consciousness, their reaction to world around them. None of the connections between each character made explicitly, yet everything beautifully became a full circle at the end. I’m not sure it was the collective memory and it’s users’ trick to create that full circle, but I’m not going to lie that I liked this new age Goon Squad better than the originals for their imagination, creativity, and ethical dilemmas.

As much as it was about lives of these characters somehow always ended up in each other’s circles, it was story of where we draw the line. We are already over sharing our lives on a daily basis (some way more than the others), but how much more we are willing to give up? Is it okay to upload all of our memories, not only the ones we choose to display to the outsiders? If that is okay, how important those terms & conditions become? Would we want those to be used only to remind us who we are if we start to forget? Or would we be so willing to let everyone tap into our core as if it’s public property? So I’ll leave you there to decide after reading this book!